I'm Political Economy editor at Forbes, editor of RealClearMarkets.com, plus a senior economic advisor to Toreador Research & Trading. I have book on how the economy works, Popular Economics: What LeBron James, the Rolling Stones and Downton Abbey Can Teach You About Economics that is set for release in April of 2015. I have a weekly column on Mondays at Forbes.com.

Obama 'End of America-Ism": Sad Variant of Global Warming Alarmism

To believe the global warming alarmists in our midst is to believe that we, the inhabitants of the earth, are its worst enemy. Supposedly the inexorable rush toward free markets around the world will prove to be the earth’s noose as the carbon dioxide explosion wrought by (among other things) automobiles will warm the planet on the way to its destruction.

Notable there is the simple reality that in modern times, despite a massive proliferation of cars around the globe, the earth has only warmed a very modest amount; roughly 1 degree. Even more notable is how predictable the latter was given that we’re emerging from a Little Ice Age that occurred from 1300-1900 A.D.

After that, it’s time we start addressing the sheer arrogance of the alarmist point of view. The earth was here long before us, and will be here long after us. Simple vanity makes us assume we’re incredibly significant, but the greater truth is that as measured against the planet on which we reside, we’re the proverbial ant on the elephant’s posterior.

We ultimately don’t count relative to planet earth, and this should be remembered the next time someone tells us we’re wrecking it. If the earth could talk, it would likely channel Ayn Rand’s Howard Roark in The Fountainhead in response to the alarmists fearful of its destruction: “But I don’t think of you.”

In fairness to the green types largely on the left who quake in horror over the earth’s decline, we have similarly arrogant alarmists on the right. In their case President Obama represents the end of the U.S. as we know it, and with the nation’s future at stake we must do everything possible to ensure that he’s a one-term president. If not, the great nation we’ve come to know will soon cease to exist; America having morphed into France, Italy, Spain, or some other supposedly dying European state.

To those on the right who decry Obama’s presidency, I should first say that I’m more than sympathetic. Obama’s presidency has been very unfortunate for his embrace of nearly every fallacious economic argument under the sun.

Obama believes we’re made better off economically when the most productive around us have their wealth redistributed away from them, he believes a cheap dollar that erodes our savings/paychecks in concert with reducing company-creating investment is a positive, and perhaps scariest of all, he believes that productivity (think computers, factory automation) is the source of our nosebleed levels of unemployment. Obama is an embarrassment (as was his dollar-cheapening, bailout loving predecessor in the White House) to this great nation, and simple American pride should make us desirous of putting him on the speaker’s circuit of failed presidents beginning in 2013.

But is this really “the most important presidential election ever?” Did Obama foist a 79% top tax rate on the ”vital few” as FDR mistakenly did, or did he impose an undistributed profits tax on businesses as FDR similarly did? The answer to both is that he didn’t, not to mention that legislative realities mean he couldn’t have. As far as taxes go, though he didn’t do so happily, he signed an extension of Bush’s ’03 tax cuts; the latter arguably the one positive economic decision made by our previous president.

Did Obama sign with great gusto a law that turned U.S. CEOs into accountants in the form of Sarbanes-Oxley? No, that was George W. Bush. Did he set capitalism back through the bailing out of banks and car companies? To some degree he did, but the aforementioned economic horrors similarly began under Bush. What about the dollar? In that case both Bush and Obama pursued policies that succeeded in collapsing the most important price (the dollar) in the world. That Obama passed a ghastly health care bill hardly recommends him, but legal realities of the Supreme Court kind mean he may see his signal legislative “achievement” go up in smoke.

Is the impact of Obama’s errors greater than the horrors foisted on the U.S. by a needless Civil War (other civilized countries didn’t need war to rid themselves of the tragedy that was slavery) that left hundreds of thousands of our best and brightest dead? Would we take the death and destruction of the two world wars of the 20th century brought on us by the alleged “great leaders” of that time over another Obama term? Speaking of, have an abnormal number of Americans died during Obama’s presidency; human capital being our single greatest economic asset?

Considering countries not the United States, can we with any credibility compare Obama’s doings to those of Mao, Lenin and Stalin; the actions of those three forcing a very real form of suicide on China and Russia in the 20th century. Though their recovery hasn’t been perfect, both China and Russia have emerged from the grievous errors of the previous leadership.

Looking at Germany and Japan in the aftermath of World War II, both were essentially reduced to rubble, yet within a few years of the war’s end, each had emerged as global economic powers. It says here readers haven’t seen government-created poverty until they’ve walked the shocking streets of India, yet it too is presently emerging from decades of bureaucratic hell.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.